


A New Kind Of Professionalism

by fractalgeometry



Series: Fidget Thinking [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Communication, Misunderstandings, fidget toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractalgeometry/pseuds/fractalgeometry
Summary: Holt is in a bad mood. He inadvertently hits a nerve with Jake over what he deems to be a matter of professionalism. They talk, and Holt learns something new.
Series: Fidget Thinking [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729342
Comments: 4
Kudos: 107





	A New Kind Of Professionalism

**Author's Note:**

> Fidgets seem like something Jake would have. That's pretty much the entire idea for this story.

Raymond Holt was in a bad mood. 

He was aware of this fact and simultaneously displeased with it, but he couldn’t shake himself out of it. As the elevator rose, he promised himself he wouldn’t take it out on any of his detectives. That would be both unprofessional of him and unfair to them. 

The doors opened to a moderately busy room. It was just before nine, so there were still several empty desks, but Jeffords and Peralta, of all people, were already there. Holt greeted them both on his way past, peripherally registering the brightly colored plastic item in Peralta’s hands. He chose to ignore it, whatever it was. Now was not the time for anything but shutting himself in his office and fixing whatever was off about his mood by doing some good, solid work. 

~

His mood had not improved as much as he hoped it would. Still, work is work and it must be done, so when a project required Holt to leave his office, he did so. On his way through the bullpen, he noticed that Peralta was still playing with the brightly colored plastic object from earlier. Or perhaps it was a different one, as Holt now saw several similar objects on the desk. They looked like toys. Definitely not work-related things. And it was making _clicking_ noises. 

Holt’s bad mood had found something to latch onto.

“Peralta!” he snapped.

“Right here!” The summoned man swiveled his chair around. “What’s up, Captain?”

“I would like to remind you that this is a work environment. If you choose to keep a toy on your desk in case a lost seven-year-old wanders in that is up to you. However, I ask you to refrain from playing with said toys while on the job.”

Peralta’s smile dropped off his face and he looked at the toy in his hand like he had never seen it before. “Oh. Yeah. Cool. Sure. Obviously. Who’d play with toys, anyway?” He laughed and dropped the thing into a drawer, sweeping the others after it. “All good?”

Holt nodded to him and left the room.

~

Holt was back in his office again when he realized that he felt slightly less like murdering everything that came across his desk. He also found himself experiencing a twinge of regret for how sharply he had spoken to Peralta earlier. He had inadvertently allowed his mood to be taken out on a subordinate, just as he had said he wouldn’t. Perhaps he should apologize. 

As Holt thought more about the interaction, it occurred to him that something had been off about the whole thing. Normally such a reproof would have been met with teasing from Peralta, or at least a playfully sarcastic comment. It wasn’t like him to quietly do as he was told without pushing back even a little. 

There were a few reasons that Holt could imagine Peralta forgoing his regular, endearingly annoying ways. He might have noticed Holt was in a bad mood and didn’t want to worsen it, though his more typical reaction would have been to do something outrageous to “cheer Holt up”. He also might have been being professional, though that one seemed more like another reason something might be wrong.

Or the last option was that there was something more to the toys than met the eye, and Peralta didn’t want anyone to know it.

Holt suddenly found himself seriously regretting his outburst. He went over to the door and looked out at the detective in question, who was sitting at his desk, scrolling through something on his computer. His face bore no trace of his usual playfulness, and he was twisting and untwisting the fingers of his empty left hand, running his nails along his thumb and then doing the whole thing over again. 

Yes, something wasn’t right, and Holt was certain that he had something to do with it.

~

“Peralta, could I see you in my office for a moment?”

Holt said it quietly, not wanting to inadvertently embarrass the man any more than he already had, but Peralta still jumped a little before he turned and pushed out his chair. 

“Sure. I mean, yeah. Of course.” He followed Holt into the other room and stood between the guest chairs, looking, Holt thought, a little nervous. 

“I wanted to apologize for how I spoke to you earlier. I was...out of sorts, and did not properly consider the consequences of my actions. It has come to my attention that I may have been hasty in requiring you to remove your...things…from your desk. They seem to be of some importance.”

“What?” Peralta snorted. “No.”

Holt gazed at him for a moment, unconvinced, but Peralta didn’t say anything more. 

“Very well,” Holt said finally. “Regardless, I apologize for taking my temper out on you.”

“That was temper?” Peralta didn’t sound as surprised as he was trying to look. “Pfff, it was nothing! I mean-“ he broke off abruptly. “Never mind.”

“As long as you retain some semblance of professionalism, you may keep whatever you wish on your desk.” Holt finished, stubbornly refusing to let Peralta distract him. 

“Oh. Cool. Cool cool cool. Yeah.”

“Dismissed.”

Peralta wheeled and headed back to his desk, where Holt could see him sit down and resume whatever he had been doing on his computer. His left hand was still clenched in a fist in his lap. 

When Holt glanced out again an hour or so later, one of the plastic items had made a reappearance and was twisting constantly, around and around Peralta’s fingers. 

**Coda:**

“It helps me think,” Peralta said from the doorway. 

Holt looked up. “What helps you think?”

Peralta held up one of his toys. “When my fingers are moving, it’s like my brain settles down and focuses on what it’s doing. Like my side-tangents are going towards movement instead of thinking.”

Holt stopped what he was doing and gave his detective his full attention. “And this is why you keep them on your desk?”

Peralta nodded.

“A worthy choice,” Holt said, and he’d swear he can see Peralta’s shoulders loosen a bit.

“Thanks,” he said. “I don’t like people noticing it, because, like, I don’t see anyone _else_ messing with stuff like this. But- I thought you maybe should hear about it.”

“Thank you,” Holt said. “I appreciate you informing me.” 

“Good. I’ll just head off now. We’ve both got work to do. Always, am I right?” Peralta laughed.

“Yes.”

Holt watched him go with a comfortable feeling of pride.

**Author's Note:**

> This is as far as my original idea goes. However, while writing it, I realized I wanted to see what Jake was thinking throughout. So Jake's perspective will be posted sometime soon. Thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear what you think!


End file.
